


Drive Darling

by jezzabelljar



Category: Call the Midwife
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-23
Updated: 2016-12-23
Packaged: 2018-09-11 08:16:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8971513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jezzabelljar/pseuds/jezzabelljar
Summary: Timothy finds out where exactly Sister Bernadette has been. (Season 2 AU finale).





	

"YOU LIED TO ME!"

The voice echoed over the bustling children, the pregnant women and the crying infants. Everything in the clinic stood still. Dr. Turner emerged from behind a blue screen as he found Timothy out of breath and in tears in the middle of the room.

Dr. Turner walked over to him as the midwives and the nuns tried to continue their exams on their patients as normally as possible.

"Timothy, why are you here?"

"You lied to me." Still a bit out of breath and stuttering away the tears, his father guided him to the back so they could talk.

"You lied. You…you said…you said the reason she couldn't come to my birthday was she was working. Working. You said she was working." He tried to control his tears but ever since Jack had said it during playtime, he had been choking them back. No longer could he. He needed to know the truth. And he needed to know why his father lied to him.

Sobbing through his explanation he just kept talking. "She's NOT working. Jack said she's sick. His sister was sick. He heard She was sick. She's at a special hospital." He had to keep going. But he couldn't. He just cried as his father got down on his knees and held him in his arms. Holding him until he calmed.

After a couple minutes of getting himself collected he looked Timothy in the eyes. Red-rimmed eyes stared back into his red-rimmed eyes. "The clinic closes in ten minutes. Then we will go for a drive."

Timothy couldn't manage many words so he just looked at his father and nodded.

Dr. Turner walked over to the sink and splashed his face with some cold water and walked over to Jenny Lee, who was making she and the rest of the midwives some tea for the days end. "Nurse, do you think you could fix up a cuppa for Timothy?" "Sure thing, Doctor." She smiled sweetly and pulled out another teacup and started pour out the water.

As the last of the expectant, new and experienced mothers left the parish hall Timothy was finishing his tea silently as the midwives and nuns finished cleaning up. Dr. Turner went over to Timothy and ushered him out to their car.

"Why did you lie to me?" was the first thing that Timothy said. Dr. Turner hadn't lied he just didn't know how to broach the subject of the fair skinned, blue eyed, sweet as rain nun being diagnosed with such a horrifying disease as Tuberculosis. He still was unable to come to terms with the fact that her life was hanging in the balance, that he couldn't fix her, that he didnt see her every day. It was killing him inside.

As they drove through the fog Timothy kept wiping his eyes trying to discreetly get rid of any signs of moisture. He looked over to his father who seemed to be doing the same thing.

"Dad, why are you sad?"

"I'm sad because I can't fix her." He didn't realize what he had said until it was too late. Dr. Turner just looked over at Timothy who seemed to actually understand. Timothy shyly smiled back then turned to look out the window.

Neither were sure as to where they were headed, especially Timothy since the fields and clean air where new and a strange sight to him, but when they arrived at the old, white building with the big stone sign etched into the side Dr. Turner knew exactly where he had taken them.

She had not gotten much sleep. With the twice daily treatments and her daily prayers and all her down time which was plagued with, she found herself staring out into nothing more than not. What usually brought her back was when she found herself falling further and further into daydreams of what a life "unhabited" would be like, a life with him would be like.

This time she thought she must be incredibly tired, she knows that it is no good for her recovery.

She not only sees him, but she sees Timothy, sweet, little, curious Timothy climbing out of that familiar green car.

As she takes a cool cloth and wipes her face and cleans her specs she realizes she is not daydreaming, it is not some fanciful thought that he had come to whisk her away, he because he was here and Timothy was with him.

As they disappeared from viewed to enter the building she found herself becoming nervous but almost unsettlingly excited. She thought this must be what the young midwives feel like when they have visitors, constantly worrying about how presentable they and their rooms are. 'My room!' She thought. She glanced around, and sprawled all over her neat and tidy bed were his letters. She quickly gathered them up as she heard Nurse Peters' loud and nosy voice as she escorted what sounded as a sniffling Timothy and a quite Dr. Turner.

"Sister, there are some men here to see you." Said Nurse Peters smiling widely as she winked at her.

"I'm not a man. I'm a boy." Popped a not so sniffly Timothy before he was announced. Dr. Turner rushed in after him to slow him down but stopped dead in his tracks when his eyes met Sister Bernadette's.

"Nurse Peters' seemed to have gotten it right to me, look how much you've grown." She said as she walked closer to Timothy. Timothy looked up at her and seeing her in front of him, he tackled her with the biggest hug he could muster as his tears started again.

Nurse Peters' made her leave and whispered to Dr. Turner "you have until supper to visit. So take your time." He grinned at her and she nodded.

All she could do was hold him. His tears were a mix a pain and relief.

Sister Bernadette knelt down to look Timothy in the eyes, since his head was so far buried in her wimple. Holding on to his shoulders and looking him directly in the eyes she spoke in hushed tones, not so his father couldn't hear but so he knew she was talking just to him. "I've cried many times since I've been here,"

Dr Turners heart sank as he watched and listened to the words she spoke to his son.

"...for many different reasons. Some because I was scared, sometimes because I felt alone, but most recently because I was comforted by the fact I will be coming home soon and I know I am not alone there." As she spoke those words she hugged him tight but her eyes found Dr. Turner's. The peace he saw and the truth no longer masked divulged the hidden meaning she was desperate to show. He found that in her blue eyes were answers which he would seek for but just seeing her look at him that way made him smile for the first time since she was diagnosed.

She found solace for the first time since she had been plagued with those temping thoughts and feelings. His eyes poured into her a sense of truth and faith that she did not realize she was searching for.

She finally knew what her God and her heart had been trying to tell her. And she wasnt going to miss this chance by being cowardly.

She simply smiled back at him, "Hello, Doctor Turner. What brings you men all the way here?"

Letting go of her waist, Timothy took a step back to stand closer to his father and look at her.

"We…uh…we came to take you out." Dr. Turner explained.

A bit shocked but pleased, Sister Bernadette replied, "Ill have to ask."

Completely taken aback that she was even up for the idea, of going for a drive with them, with him, had him scrambling for what to do next.

Being the nosy and intrigued nurse that she was, Nurse Peters was just outside the door when Dr. Turner walked out of Sister Bernadette's room to seek permission to take her off the grounds. He nearly ran into her. She steadied him, internally giggled at the frazzled look on his face. With a sly smile she just whispered, "As long as you keep your trained eye on her, Doctor, you can go anywhere, just be back before supper, as I had said before." She again left with a wink.

Before he went back in to the room he thought to himself he must send Nurse Peters a thank you note of some sorts, if for nothing but for taking such great care of Sister Bernadette.

Timothy ran down the front steps of the sanatorium and straight towards to car. Sister Bernadette was still buttoning up her coat in the doorway as Dr. Turner stood on the steps slowly making his way towards the car. He stopped and turned towards her as she was fidgeting with the last couple buttons. She seemed shaky, nervous. 'Maybe this isn't the best of ideas' he thought as he walked back to her and silently offered to help. To his surprise her hands fell to her side and she took a breath as he fastened the last two buttons. He motioned for her to go in front of him and she smiled at the gesture. She could feel the ghost of his hand hovering behind her back as to lead her to where they were headed.

They reached the car in silence with Timothy jumping to get in and open the door for Sister Bernadette.

He opened the door for her and as she was about to get in, "Timothy, get in the back. Don't make Sister Bernadette climb over the seat." Looking a bit ashamed as he climbed in, Sister Bernadette giggled and said, "That was very kind of you, Timothy. Thank you." She touched his shoulder reassuringly and he looked up and smiled at her, no trace of embarrassment left.

Dr. Turner closed her door and walked around the car to get in. before he turned on the engine he looked over to his left and behind him, he smiled to himself and asked " Where to?"

"Just drive, dad." Blurted Timothy.

"That sounds fine to me." Agreed Sister Bernadette.

"Then just driving it is." Dr. Turner pulled out of the parking lot and they were on their way, to nowhere in particular, but together.

The car sailed through the mist and the drizzling rain with the passengers safely, silently riding inside. As he watched the fifth raindrop roll down the window and beat another Timothy looked up at the adults in the front. Sister Bernadette kept looking over at his dad and he liked that he got to see her smile. He also noticed that when she would turn back to looking out the window ahead his dad would sneak a look at her. His eyes full of something that Timothy couldn't name, something that he hadn't seen in awhile.

"You like my Dad." It was a statement more than a question, when it came out softly from his lips.

The comfortable silence that had been there before was now filled with the sounds of two very fast heart beats and breaths.

Dr. Turner couldn't seem to find any words and was unable to concentrate, he slowed the car down. As he was about to pull over he heard a small voice coming from his left.

"I do." Sister Bernadette's small words were full of confidence and when Dr. Turner looked over to her he noticed that there was no sign of embarrassment, regret or doubt in her features. She just smiled back at him.

Timothy beamed "Good."

"And why is that, young man?"

"You'd be a great mum."

Shocked by his son's bluntness "Timothy!" Dr. Turner finally stopped the car on the side of the road. All that could be heard now was the rain clanging on the roof and windows of the green car as they sat not looking at each other.

Remembering the letters that were snug under her bible on her nightstand, Sister Bernadette let the words seep into her mind once more just as they had the first time she read them. The words, his words that revealed his heart's inner workings and desires for her in the most remarkable and innocent way.

She recalled the way she felt as she let his confessions wash over her. The sense of peace that came as she finished each letter, the words were as though they came from her savior himself, the first man who saved her all those years ago, telling her there was another way to love and serve him and this was it.

As all this flooded her mind a grin wider than he had ever seen spread across her face. Her hands started moving towards his which lay between them. He accepted the invitation of the contact. He couldn't find the words to ask her what this meant. He didn't know how to tell her, how to show her, how to explain that he wanted more without hurting or offending her.

"Can you marry him?" Caught off guard again Dr Turner started which caused him to squeeze her hand. A firm squeeze returned his.

With no answer Timothy pressed on. He liked the way his father looked and acted around Sister Bernadette, but he wasn't sure what the rules were. He had noticed that never had a single nun ever had a husband. He didn't know if that was because they couldn't or they just didn't want one. "Do you want to?"

At that Sister Bernadette found that she was able to answer the boy, "When I became a nun, Timothy, I made sacred Vows to God, vows not unlike the ones a wife would say to her husband."

"To marry my Dad you'd have to get, like, a divorce from God?"

As they had been talking she didn't realize that they were moving again, along the abandoned road, but their hands had never parted.

"In a way, yes, I guess that would be the case. But it would not be a divorce because I love my God any less. It would be because he has shown me there is another way to love him more." She took his fingers and intertwined them with hers. He looked over at her with a sweet knowing smile and drove on.

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy!  
> -jezza


End file.
